Water-destroyer

Good news; again! Not only did nothing break yesterday, the generator actually mended itself. I think all the talk of the engine’s ability to multi-task shamed it into action. I flicked it on at midday yesterday, just on the off chance that all the shaking about by the waves may have knocked whatever was out of place back into place, and it worked. All the little red lights went on (these are good red lights as opposed to scary red warning lights) and the battery-monitoring panel showed that it was producing power. The number of amps fluctuated more than normal, but there was definitely power there. Flushed with success, I thought I’d give the watermaker a try. As soon as I flicked the switches, the little red lights went off and we were amp-less once again.

Oh well, no harm done, it was worth the try. And then the gurgling started. The watermaker, when it’s working, produces around 130 litres per hour, which is enough to keep us going for a day or two of non-frugal use. Once it’s finished, it automatically flushes through its pipes and filters with fresh water, but the amount used is small relative to what it’s just produced. It’s all very clever, or it would be if it actually took into account whether it had produced any water or not. It appears that’s not the case. Just flicking the switch from on to off is enough to trigger the flushing mechanism. And so our watermaker has morphed into a water-destroyer!

A few hours later we tried the generator again and this time it produced a steady 80 amps for over an hour. Confident that the alternator was now working properly we decided to take the risk and try the watermaker. This time the red lights stayed on and the high-pressure pump whirred into action. The anticipation of being able to shower again lifted all our spirits (and made our noses very happy too). The system works by driving salt water through a membrane at high pressure, and so once the pump is on, you start closing the valve to increase the pressure to its working level of around 65 bar. It got to about 30 bar and then kaput, everything switched off again. There was total silence for 30 seconds, and then the ominous gurgling began again. Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to stay smelly for a few more days.